History Main / EvilIsPetty

* [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Scheck]] from ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnoldTheMovie''. His motivations to level Arnold's neighborhood and replace it with a shopping mall go beyond greed — [[spoiler:he's doing it to avenge the defeat his ancestors who suffered a humiliating defeat during the Tomato Incident, which took place during the Revolutionary War.]]

See also ForTheEvulz, CardCarryingVillain, TheDevilIsALoser, EvenEvilHasStandards. For examples where a petty action ends up harming the villain, see DickDastardlyStopsToCheat, TheDogBitesBack, and StupidEvil. If the villain manages to keep his reasons secret until the climax and the protagonists act stupefied at the discovery of such a petty reason, see DisappointedByTheMotive. {{Badbutt}}s can have similarly petty motives. Not to be confused with [[EvilIsSexy "Evil is Pretty"]].

** As revealed in Volume 7, [[MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate Dr. Watts']] entire motive for joining with Salem is out of bitterness and jealousy that Ironwood chose Pietro Polendina's P.E.N.N.Y. project over his own work. Despite being an elite Atlesian scientist who was given everything he could have ever wanted, Watts was [[DrivenByEnvy so outraged]] that he devoted himself to getting revenge on Ironwood for the perceived slight, going so far as to have several people murdered and frame Penny for the massacre purely to make him look bad. He also goes out of his way to mock and degrade Cinder to her face simply because he doesn't like her, and in his very first appearance in Volume 7, causes several traffic accidents and a full-on collision just so he doesn't have to break his stride as he walks down the street.

[[caption-width-right:332:"[[BadIsGoodAndGoodIsBad A good person would brush his teeth... but not me, 'cuz I'm EVIL!]]"]]

* Inverted in Christianity; Good is Petty. The bible makes it clear that the small things matter just as much as the big ones. And a [[YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm 'perfect']] God would be free of even the slightest, pettiest of flaws.

* ''Webcomic/KillSixBillionDemons'': Solomon David is [[AffablyEvil nothing but polite and courteous to everyone, even his enemies]]... but he also [[PassiveAggressiveKombat constantly engages in tiny little micro-instances of dickery to demean those who annoy him]]. He shatters a table the other Seven are using because Mottom questioned his abilities, [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill unleashes his hyper-deadly Ki Rata on a bunch of tournament participants]] to psyche out the heroes for [[BerserkButton calling him a tyrant]], and it's noted that he always "suspiciously" has a better-looking ''gi'' than whomever he duels at the end of his tournament.

See also ForTheEvulz, CardCarryingVillain, TheDevilIsALoser, EvenEvilHasStandards. For examples where a petty action ends up harming the villain, see DickDastardlyStopsToCheat, TheDogBitesBack, and StupidEvil. If the villain manages to keep his reasons secret until the climax and the protagonists act stupefied at the discovery of such a petty reason, see DisappointedByTheMotive. {{Badbutt}}s can have similarly petty motives.

'''Franchise/TheFlash (in [[Characters/SupermanLexLuthor Lex Luthor]]'s body):''' No! 'Cause I'm ''evil''.

*** He gives "The Bubbler" a garish outfit and made "Horrificator" a mute because both of them mouthed off at him.

** [[EvilHero Chloé Bourgeois]]:

*** She gets Alya suspended from school for snooping in Marinette's locker simply because Alya suspects Marinette of being Scarlet Lady.
*** She tries to get Marinette killed at The Gamer's hands [[{{Yandere}} because she was hanging out with Adrien]].
*** She refuses to let Marinette delete the class photo so another can be retaken, even though Adrien is seen pushing her off him in the original one, because she can't handle ''not'' being next to Adrien.

*** In "Volpina", when Lila boasts of being her friend, she decides to prove her wrong by publicly humiliating her and tossing her into a fountain.

* [[MockingTheMourner Mocking those who lost their friends, loved one's, and pets.]]

* EvilIsPetty/LiveActionFilms

* ''Webcomic/ScarletLady'': After his father Gabriel (secretly the story's BigBad, Hawkmoth) is unable to come to Career Day after he promised he would, Adrien implies he will ruin his diet by helping himself to the free croissants Marinette has brought. Gabriel's reaction?
-->'''Gabriel Agreste[=/=]Hawkmoth:''' ''Oh, I am akumatizing the s**t out of someone now.''

* In the WebAnimation/YouTubePoop video "Big Bird Brings Death To Sesame Street", Big Bird decides to murder the other residents of Sesame Street simply because he is tired of the winter season. Presumably to avoid being caught by the authorities, he disguises his weapons as pretty flowers.

* Gru in ''WesternAnimation/DespicableMe''. His EstablishingCharacterMoment is to console a crying child by blowing them a balloon animal, [[YankTheDogsChain then popping it right in the child's face]], shocking them into silence. A few minutes later, he hits the cars in front and back of his monstrosity of a vehicle repeatedly while he's parallel parking. Not out of ineptitude, mind you, he parks perfectly; he does it just because it will make two strangers' days a little worse. Other examples abound. [[spoiler: [[HeelFaceTurn He gets better]].]]

** Xykon positively [[ForTheEvulz revels in being evil]]. Sure, he's got his EvilPlan for [[TakeOverTheWorld World Domination]]. But he's never so busy being the BigBad that he won't take time to [[BadBoss kill his minions]] because they asked for a pay raise, kill his minions because they asked to be paid, or inflict pointless suffering on random innocents out of boredom. He once murdered a potential minion vying for his allegiance just because his name was too long to remember. As is clearly spelled out in ''Recap/TheOrderOfTheStickStartOfDarkness'', he thinks EvenEvilHasStandards is for pussies.

See Also: ForTheEvulz, CardCarryingVillain, TheDevilIsALoser, EvenEvilHasStandards. For examples where a petty action ends up harming the villain, see DickDastardlyStopsToCheat, TheDogBitesBack, and StupidEvil. If the villain manages to keep his reasons secret until the climax and the protagonists act stupefied at the discovery of such a petty reason, see DisappointedByTheMotive. {{Badbutt}}s can have similarly petty motives.

May overlap with HateSink, a character massively despised for actual villainous actions; and JerksAreWorseThanVillain, where a [[{{Jerkass}} jerk]] is disliked by the audience more than the actual villain is. Contrast with PokeThePoodle when ''all'' the supposed villain does is something actually harmless -- they don't do anything overwhelmingly evil, but frequently behave like a mild dick to maintain their VillainCred. See HarmlessVillain for someone who lives for doing this.

May overlap with HateSink, a character massively despised for actual villainous actions. Contrast with PokeThePoodle when ''all'' the supposed villain does is something actually harmless -- they don't do anything overwhelmingly evil, but frequently behave like a mild dick to maintain their VillainCred. See HarmlessVillain for someone who lives for doing this.

* O'Malley the megalomaniacal AI from ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' once launched into an evil rant when handling a $20 co-pay for his host's medical services.

* Gru in ''WesternAnimation/DespicableMe''. He hits the cars in front and back of his monstrosity of a vehicle repeatedly while he's parallel parking. Not out of ineptitude, mind you, he parks perfectly; he does it just because it will make two strangers' days a little worse. Other examples abound. [[spoiler: [[HeelFaceTurn He gets better]].]]

They're not just evil on a large scale; they're evil on all the tiny little details of everyday life they might experience in any possible situation. This trope opposes AffablyEvil and EvilIsCool -- this villain is just a colossal pain in the ass, even leaving their alignment out of the question. And often, they get a ''kick'' out of being a pain. And it must be pointed that petty motivations do not take from the cruelty and malice of the acts -- in fact, they are just as likely to lead past the MoralEventHorizon, and may even make the villain more hated to the audience than they would be otherwise, as there is nothing grandiose or admirable about him. They are just a scumbag of a bully. More often than not, it is a trait of a PsychopathicManchild.

* ''WebAnimation/BleachSAbridged'': Aizen's canon boredom has led him to use his illusion powers largely for pranks on his co-workers and subordinates. A list: